Coupler



S. C. DUTYv Y0- drawin'gs, `in which 'fes' '35 of a track-laying tractor, having a drivers vings 19 and 21 are -oppositely recessed at 85'.`

' 40 In the same IigureI haveillustrated the stop.- The plates 2O and 22 are'rivetedV .to 90 '45 tain amount of movement vertically therecastings 19 andV 21, and-may be weldedor vPatented yMay l12, 1.9731r i i 'y Umso STA-rss PATENT OFFICE* Application tied April 25, 193e.V serial No. 447,178.

VThis inventionrelates to improvements in' of a coil spring 17. `'Ihe tongue is therefore couplers for vehicles, particularly couplers free to swing with theaXle 11i,v while' it is for removably attaching trailers to trucksf supported in `an approximately horizontal or tractors... y f f position. It is nevertheless free to ,move o 5 One ofv theobjects of the invention is the vertically either toward or away fromy the '55 provision of a coupler, thev coupling elements supporting arm 16. l l v of whichomay be connected or disconnected At the rear'end of the power vehicle y10 v vby the driver of the truck or tractor without `I utilize as a supportfor the coupler, or thaty leaving his seat.4V i portion of the same which is to be mounted lf" Another object is the provision of a coun ron this vehicle, a transverse bar 18. In cases. 60 pler vof the character stated which shall inwhere Vno such bar is provided by the trac. terpose no vinterference with the free swingtor manufacturer, a bar of rthis character y ingoof the trailertongue laterally in making can be mounted at the rear end of the tractor turns. f y e f frame. The tractor portion'of the coupler o .15 OthQrobjoCts and features of novelty willy comprises essentially alpair of jaws, open 65 appear as I proceed with the description `of at their sides and diverging vertically ltothat embodiment of the" invention which, ward the rear. These'jaws 'may be 'formed for the purposes of: the present application, in one or more pieces, as may be found Con-v .I.lhave yillustrated in vthe accompanying venient and economical in manufactura-and l' y they may be supported in any desiredman- 70 Figure 1-` is aside elevation. showing a: 1161 lOm the bar 18, or otherwise. As trttctoi` boing-backodhin'to coupling relation herein illustrated each jaw is formed in two `with a trailer, and illustrating the coupling PQCQSf The UPPGIJILW COIHPSGS .il @Sting members of my invention, 19 horizontally arranged and an inclined Fig. 2' is a rear view ofthe tractor with Sheet meta plateQO Overlapping the cast- 75 its coupling member and associated parte, ying'an'equal amount on each' side thereof. the'tongue of thetrailer being shown in The lower jaw comprises a casting 21 'and .voi-tical transverse section, l Y an inclinedl sheet metal plate 22, the latter Fig 3 is a, Side olevatonal View of the being identical in sizel and form with the .Coupler-7 thefview being partly in Vol-tical plate v2O. Thecastings 19 and 21vare re-'SO section upon theline 3-3 yof Fig, 2, and vcessed at their forward' 'extremities o to `fit j Fig. 4 is a plan view ofthe structure upon the'bar 18, andare secured thereto lby shown in Fig;v 2. e bolts23 ory the like. As will be apparentl In Fig. 1- I have shown at-10 a fragment from fm USPGCOD 0f Fg- 3, the WO MSU seat 11j.` Obviously, however, the invention 'their rear'ends t0 form a tongue receiving isclearly well adapted for use in connection opening 24;. At the forward end of this with wheeled tractors or in connection with Openinaand Overlapping it considerably 011 :trucksor other vehicles. v either side, is a bar 25 which I term a backforward end only of atrailer-12 provided U-shaped yokes or brackets 26 and 27 Awhich with a forwardly extending tongue 13 which af-SeCufed t0 th@ bal.' 18 by bolts 28 01' the' -may be'mounted upon the front axle 14 of like.v The forward edges of the plates'f20 the trailer 1n such manner as to=havea cer-v and 22 `meet the o, rear inner lcorners of the upon. To ythis end, the frame of the trailerv otherwise ]o1n`ed to the castingsatrthat 'point t may be provided with a' standard 15 from so as to make a smooth union which'will lwhich extends forwardly a `rigid arm 16.A facilitate the passage of the tongue 13eitherv 50 From the. forwardwend of this arm the intoor out of the recess 24:. 'l

tongue '131s resilientlfy supported hyl means. 'Ihecastings 19 and 21are`provided with 100 aligned vertical openings 29 and 30. Thev tongue 13 has a similar opening 31 which comes into alignment with the openings 29 and 30 when the tongue is centrally positioned with its forward end against the backstop 25. A coupling pin 32 may then be klowered through the opening 29 into and through the opening 31, and then into the opening 30, the openings 29 and 30 serving as guides for the pm. In order to clear other portions of the apparatusv presently to be described, the pin 32 is provided with an oii'set 33. l Near its upper extremity this pm 1s provided with ja vertical slot 34,v

through which extends one end of an oper` ating lever 35 which is fulcrumed at 36 upon la standard 37, the latter being provided with -a foot 38 which surmounts the acent end of the U-shaped bracket 26 and is secured in place by thev same bolt 28. i

On the bar 18 l mount by suitable fastenings l39 an upwardly extending yoke 40, which is bowed backwardly at its central portion and there carries a horizontal pivot bolt 41 upon which is supported a handled lever 42. Integral with the casting 21 there vis a depending bracket at the lower end `equal distances from the vertical bars 45.

The parts making up this Vparallelograin are so positioned that vthe squeeze bars 4o are brought into the same vertical plane with the openings 29 and 30 and the coupler pin mounted therein.V j

Assuming that the tpa loaded or unloaded, as the case may be, and it is desired to transport it from one place to another, the driver of the tractor 10 raises the coupler pin 32 byy depressing the outer end of lever 35, and then backs the tractor toward the front end of the trailer, causing the diverging portions 20, 22 of the jaws to ler 12 has been receive the front end of thetongue between' them, as indicated in Fig. 1. Continued movement of the trailer at slow rate of ltravel causes the plate 22 to deflect the tongue upwardly to the space between the forward edges of the plates. rlhe operator Vthen continues the backing of `the tractor until the forward end of the tongue strikes the back-stop 25, which is constructed of fairly heavy material so as to be able to tak such strains as may be imparted to it. The driver of the tractor may not be able. to

guide it vaccurately enough to bring the tongue 13 exactly into line with the guides -for thecoupler. pin 32,v particularly-if the upon the lever 35, grasps theend of lever 42 y in his other hand and pulls the lever up to the dotted line position of Fig. 2. rlhe squeeze bars are thereby caused to move parallel vto themselves toward each other into the dotted line position, and the tongue u13 is accordinol moved laterall to the exe y Y lact center, that is to a position where its opening' 31 is directly in line with the openy ings29 and 30. lThe operator then pulls up on lever 35, whereby the pin 32 is projected downwardly through openings 29, 31 and 30, gravity assisting in this operation, after which the operator releases his hold upon lever 42. The lever 42 is the only element ofthe parallelogram which is not substantially balanced, and the weight of this lever, being principally to the right ofV pivot r41, as viewed in Fig, 2, brings the parts of the parallelogram back to the full line position of that figure. Any convenient stop, such yas a piece of strip steel 49 riveted to a portion of the tractor, may be employed to limit the downward movement of the lever 42.

lt will thus be Lseen that the coupling of the two vehicles together mayv be accomplished readily and quickly by vthedriver of the tractor without his leaving his seat, and this facility is quite important Awhere a tractor nust be employed to move a great many different trailers or trains of trailers or where a limited number of trailers or trains of trailers must be moved back and forth between given points a number ofv times in a working day. The coupler jaws on the tractor are open horizontally, and there is no obstruction to the free swingingof the ltongue 13 through a large arc in making turns. The squeeze bars 45 form stops rlimiting the extent of this movement, butit will be noted that they are located in the same vertical plane with the coupler pin'32, .about which the tongue swings, so that the arc of movement of the latter is through al possible angle of almost 180o. Y W'hile the squeeze bars in the form illustrated are preferred by me, it will be obvious that such bars might be otherwise mounted and operated, and that in fact their function might be performed by mechanical means not bars at all in the st-rict'sense .of the term. Vl-lence, l desire it to be understood that where the term squeeze bars unmodified is employed herein it has a broad signiiicance, indicating mechanical velements movable transversely-toward or away from each other. t f

ln theforegoing ,description and 1n the Y accompanying drawing I have `disclosed in '25 coupling pin adapted to be projectedv considerable detail one particular embodinient of the invention, nevertheless I desire it to be understood that such detail disclosure has been resorted to primarily for the purpose lof fully illustrating the invention in conformity with the statute, not to be considered as amounting to a limitation upon the scope of the invention. n c

'l I-Iaving thus described my invention, I

claim: Y

1. In combination, a coupler member for use in connection with a tongue lhaving an opening therethrough, said member comprising jaws adapted to receive said tongue, a

coupling pin adapted tov be projected f through openings in said jaws and through said tongue opening, and a pair of squeeze bars movable transversely offsaid jaws for drawing said tongue into position in alignment with said jaw openings.

2. In combination, aicoupler member Jfor I use in connection with a tongue having an opening therethrough, said member comprisjaws adapted to receive said tongue, a

through openings in said aws and through said tongue opening, a pair ofsqueeze bars movable transversely of said jaws for drawing said tongue into position in alignment with said jaw openings, andmeans for simultaneously operating said squeeze bars to move them toward or away from each other.

3. In combination, a coupler'member for use in connection with a tonguey having an Y opening therethrough, saidv member comcoupler member for one vehicle comprising' posed openings therein, ay coupling pin prising jaws adapted to receive said tongue, a coupling pin adapted to be projected through openings in said jaws and through said tongue opening, and-a pair of squeeze bars mounted in the same plane as said pin, said squeeze bars being movable transversely `of said jaws Jfor drawing said tongue into position in alignment with said openings.

l. In ya coupler for joining two vehicles, a

a tongue having a' vertical opening therethrough, and a coupling member for the vother vehicle comprising upper v`and lowerA ldiverging jaws adapted to receive said tongue when said vehicles are caused to approach each other, said vjaws having opadapted to be projected through vsaid opposed openings and through the opening in f said tongue, and a pair of squeeze bars movable transversely of said jaws for drawing said tongue transversely into position in alignment with said jaw openings.`

5. In combination, a coupler member for luse in connection with a tongue having an vthrough said tongue opening, squeeze bars movable transversely of said and ris Vmy signature.

ed to bear, a coupling pin adapted to be prof i coupling pin adapted to be Lprojected through openings in said aws and through` saidv ktongue opening, a pair, of parallel squeeze bars standing normally at opposite sides of said l,aws, and means for moving said bars inwardly toward each other while maintaining 4their parallel relation, vfor drawing said tongue into position in alignment with said j aw 'openings 7. In a lcoupling member' for use upon a power vehicle, a pair of fixed upper landy lower kjaws Ldiverging outwardly, a backvstop mounted at the inner ends of said.

jaws in line with the opening betweenk them, said jaws being adapted to receive the free end of ,a tongue coupling member attached to a vehicle to be moved, and said jaws bel ing adapted to direct the endof said tongue into engagement with said back-stop, a pair .of upright squeeze bars arranged normally at thev sides of said jaws, means within reach of the driver yof the power vehicle for drawing said squeeze bars inwardly to move the tongue transversely to a central position, and means also within reach of the driver for operatively engaging saidy vtongue when the latter islinits central position.v Y

vIn testimony whereof, I hereunto Vaiiiir SPENCER c. DUTY. f

icc

opening therethrough, said member compris- Y' ing jaws adapted to receive said tongue, a f back-stop at the inner end of ysaid jawsy against which the end of the tongue is ada-pt- 

